President Donald Trump drew the United States in a ceremonial portion of the FIFA World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center, joking, “This is shocking” after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney drew their respective countries.
The three North American leaders, who will all host matches next Summer, joined FIFA President Gianni Infantino on stage for the draw, shortly after Trump was honored with the first-ever annual FIFA Peace Prize for his work to end conflicts around the globe.
Trump sent the Kennedy Center into laughter, saying, “I think I know what this is going to be now,” as he selected a ball after the other two leaders had.
As he held up the paper reading “USA” from the ball, he feigned shock. Long before the draw, it was determined that Mexico would be in Group A, Canada would be in Group B, and the United States would be in Group D during next Summer’s contest, meaning the selections by Trump, Sheinbaum, and Carney were ceremonial.
Per FIFA, because the three countries are hosting, they were placed in Pot 1 for the draw, along with the nine top-ranked teams:
For pot 1, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as the host countries, will be identified by different colored balls and, when drawn, will be assigned to position A1 for Mexico (green ball), B1 for Canada (red ball), and D1 for the USA (blue ball), as already established per the match schedule released on 4 February 2024. The remaining nine top-ranked teams in pot 1 will be identified by nine balls of the same color and automatically allocated to position 1 of the group into which they are drawn.
To ensure competitive balance, two separate pathways to the semi-finals have been established when developing the match schedule. In order to have a balanced distribution of the teams, the four highest-ranked teams in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s Ranking, when drawn, will have the following constraints: the highest-ranked team (Spain) and the second highest-ranked team (Argentina) will be randomly drawn into opposite pathways, and the same principle will apply to the third (France) and fourth (England) highest-ranked teams. This will ensure that, should they win their groups, the two highest-ranked teams will not meet before the final.
Sheinbaum and Carney were spotted in an Opera house box with Trump after the draw.
Trump notably said in late October he was ending trade talks with Canada after Ottawa ran a “fraudulent” ad on tariffs that misquoted President Ronald Reagan on the subject. In early November, Carney said he “apologized” to Trump at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
While fielding questions on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center ahead of the draw, the president said that soccer fans can expect a “fantastic” tournament next Summer.
“It’s just a big day, and it’s a great sport, and it really is coming to America…nobody ever thought a thing like this could happen,” Trump told another reporter.
“I’m very happy to say that we’ve already set the all-time record on ticket sales long before the first ball is kicked,” he added, to which Infantino said, “100 percent.”
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